The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-05-12

charged by servants, and for these OH
GERS and the expenses of the household
the British taxpayers pay every year
e1,616, 900. The Crown Jewels, the keep
ing Of which requires q number of high
salaried officers, amount in. value to be-
tween $4,000, 900 and eS0, 900 900, and
the suggestion is made to the Queen that
II she really wants to make her jubilee
memorable she should sell these jewels
and devote the proceeds to some useful
object for the benefit of the people.
ton in speaking frankly to the Queen.
the ''old lady now being driven about in
Q donkey chaise in France" where she
happens to be at present on pleasure
visit The royal princes are not favor
ties with the republican papers. The
Prince of Wales jubilee scheme of an
Imperial Institute for which he is en-.
deavoring to collect $1,OOO,0OO is de-
scribed as "a scandalous, shameful scheme
of beggary." The question is asked
what purpose the monster building would
be applied to If erected, and 1t Is said that
there are rumors that the Prince of
Wales intends quartering in 1t "a lot of
his favorites, toadies and jobbers, such as
he loves to have about him." The Duke
of Edinburgh, second son of the Queen,
Is described as "lubber" and q recent
blunder in seamanship made by him is
plainly ascribed to drunkenness.
In criticisms upon public affairs fre-
quent reference Is made to the way
things are done in this country. The
unanimity of American public sentiment
In opposition to the Irish coercion bill
is reflected in the attitude of the British
democracy for instance, Reynolds jour-
nal makes the following frank declara-
tion on this point:
The British workman is in the habit of
turning his eyes toward the great re-
public of the West for light and leading.
He knows that he cannot trust the organs Of
the Glasses" at home to tell him the truth
either about his rights or his duties and
when he finds the whole American people,
from New York to San Francisco, and from
Winnipeg to New Orleans, raising one uni
versal shout Of indignation against British
ton in making up his mind that coercion
bills are an abomination not to be longer en-
dured.
The inefflciency of the English civil
service furnishes an unfailing subject for
criticism. Indeed, it is admitted even by
papers as conservative as the London
Times that the civil service is consumed
by dry rot. The stupidity which charac-
terizes governmental transactions in
England Is simply amazing. For instance,
the last mails bring accounts of the ar
rest of one Thomas Leckey for defraud
ing the commissioner of customs. 1t
appears that Leckey was given pension
in 1845 and died in 1852, and his son has
been drawing the pension ever since by
personating his father, and curious
feature of the business is that 1t never
seems to have occurred to any of the red
tape officials that this pensfoner if still
alive was 100 years old and was there
fore a curiosity worth looking at. OF
course the moment investigation was
made the fraud was discovered. Such
things are, however, small matters in
have been made of the worthlessness of
millions of pounds every year. AT the
last meeting of the National Volunteers
the bayonets supplied to the men were
tested by being thrust into a bundle of
cotton waste, whereupon they bent over
like pewter spoon. OF fifty shovels
issued to one battalion thirty-two broke
in three days, and yet all these tools had
been presumably tested to the complete
satisfaction of the war Office. Boots
and clothes for the troops in Egypt
turned out to be shoddy stuff that would
not stand weeks wear. A parliament
ary investigation reports that all the
cutlasses with which the navy is now
armed are absolutely inefficient and uL.
trustworthy and unfit for service. Ships
have been built at q cost of millions of
dollars that when fitted out sank so
deeply that all of their defensive plates
are below the water.
These scandalous exhibitions of ineffl-
cheney are due chiefly to the perfunctory
way In which officers holding life tenure
positions, and exempt from the correc-
tives of partisan zeal, do their work. So
intense and thick-headed is adherence
to official routine that the following ex-
traordinary transaction recently took
place: A lot of spars were deliv-
cred at Devonport dock-yard, but were
rejected as not up to the contract. The
contractors then offered to give the goods
at reduction of twenty-five per cent. of
the contract price, and this offer was
accepted. The admiralty board, however,
had to be communicated with, and they
decided that they had no power under
the contract either to refuse the spars or
to take them at q reduction, so they
OIucIcu tu6t tuey buOulu Uc pAlu 1OI ~
the full contract price, although the con-
tractors were willing to sell them at
twenty-five per cent. less. The red tape
system is so perfect in the royal dock
yards that II the most trifing article be
required by the foreman no fewer than
seventeen clerks are employed before
the transaction can be completed, and
the grinding Of this intricate machinery
continually produces some very curious
results. For instance, 1t is the practice
Of the admiralty to send stores of rum
and sugar from England to Jamaica and
rice to India, the goods having been
previously imported from these colonies.
1t recently leaked out that when the
contract for building the vessels "Sans-
pareiel' and "Renown" was awarded
the admiralty actually gave Arm
strong & Co. $75, 900 more than they
asked. The official labors by which
such extraordinary results are attained
are Of course gigantic. 1t is there
fore not surprising to hear Of the bill
paid by q board Of lighthouse COM
missi0ners for q dinner supplied to
them. It cost just 1896 SO to satisfy
their very modest appetites at one re-
past. It Is no wonder that young and
unconventional person like Lord Ran
dolph Churchill was strongly moved by
q desire to jump with both feet upon
III l..A A. -